Episodes
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Nine years to the day since Shamima Begum entered ISIS controlled Syria, sheâll find out whether sheâs any closer to coming back to Britain. Josh is at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London to hear whether Begumâs lawyers have succeeded in arguing that the British governmentâs decision to take away her citizenship was unlawful.
After she emerged from the remnants of the Islamic State group in 2019, the British Home Secretary took away her citizenship saying she was a threat to national security. Her lawyers claim that he failed to consider whether she was victim of trafficking.
Will her appeal succeed?
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Josh answers your questions about Shamima Begum and the making of the multi-award winning series. Recorded in front of an audience at the BBCâs Radio Theatre in London, Naga Munchetty puts your questions to Josh including: what is it about this story that captures the imagination and curiosity of so many people? How did Josh keep safe while making the podcast? And, Should Shamima Begum be seen as a villain?
Iâm Not A Monster is the BBCâs most-awarded podcast series. Itâs the only audio series to have won two Rose DâOr Awards and it won an inaugural Podcast Academy Award for Documentary, an Edward R Murrow Award, The Grand Jury Prize at the New York Radio Awards and three awards in the documentary, current affairs and true crime categories at the British Podcast Awards 2023. Series two was recently named podcast of the year by the Foreign Press Association and best investigative audio series by the Association of International Broadcasters. Presenters: Josh Baker and Naga MunchettyRadio Theatre crew: Alan Zani, Marc Wilcox, Brendan Gormley, Clive PainterProduction support: Janet Staples and Katie MorrisonMixed by: Tom BrignellProducer: Joe Kent with Sara Obeidat and Hayley Clarke Editor: Jonathan AspinwallCommissioner: Dylan Haskins
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Missing episodes?
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What do you want to know about The Shamima Begum Story and the making of the podcast? Join us on Tuesday the 12th of September in London, as Josh answers your questions about the series, share more about how it was made and some extra things weâve learnt about the story.
Apply for FREE TICKETS: https://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/shamima-begum Email your questions: [email protected]
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What happened to the girl Shamima Begum says convinced her to join the Islamic State group?
Less than 24 hours before this episode was published ,we got the answer.
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten and produced by: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam SlaterMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinators: Janet Staples and Helena Warwick-CrossSeries Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma RipponCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
This episode contains some strong language
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Episode 10 will be available on Wednesday March 22nd
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No longer a vulnerable schoolgirl, but a seemingly unrepentant adult. Shamima Begum enrages the British public and ends up stuck in Syria.
A series of media interviews come to shape how sheâs perceived - with long lasting consequences.
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten and produced by: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam SlaterMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinators: Janet Staples and Helena Warwick-CrossSeries Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma RipponCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
ARCHIVEJohn Sparks interviews Shammia Begum: Sky News (2019)Rohit Kachroo interviews Shammia Begum: ITV News (2019)
This episode contains upsetting moments involving children
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Raqqa falls, the so-called caliphate crumbles and a pregnant Shamima Begum is desperate to come home.
After she and her husband Yago walk out of the ashes of the Islamic State group, sheâs discovered in a detention camp where she gives an interview that will change her life.
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten by: Josh Baker and Joe KentProducers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam SlaterMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinators: Janet Staples and Helena Warwick-Cross Series Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
ARCHIVE:Islamic State's final fighters hold on in Baghouz as caliphate crumbles: ITV News (2019)Alex Rossi goes inside the Islamic State's last stand in Baghouz: Sky News (2019) Anthony Lloyd interviews Shamima Begum: The Times of London (2019)
This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.
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Someone close to Shamima Begum is looking for a way out of the so-called caliphate.
Reporter: Josh Baker Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent Composer: Firas Abou Fakher Theme music: Sam Slater Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell Production coordinator: Janet Staples Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
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With her new husband in prison, Shamima Begum is left in the care of a stranger, but who is he? Josh travels to the heart of the former caliphate as he searches for clues and investigates what her life with the Islamic State group was like.
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten by: Josh Baker and Joe KentProducers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam SlaterMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinator: Janet StaplesSeries Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma RipponCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
This episode contains descriptions of violence, sexual violence, and has upsetting content
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Shamima Begumâs new life under ISIS isnât what she expected. She says what she thought would be paradise is more like a prison. At just 15 years-old she finds herself trapped in an ISIS guesthouse, where the only way out is to get married. In his first interview since 2019, Islamic State group fighter Yago Reidjik reveals how he became her husband and what their life together was like.
This episode contains very strong language and references to sexual abuse.
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten by: Josh Baker and Joe KentProducers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam SlaterMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinator: Janet StaplesSeries Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma RipponCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
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Friendship, propaganda and the promise of paradise - why Shamima Begum left London at 15 for the Islamic State group in war torn Syria. But how did she ignore the groupâs brutal violence? And who convinced her to go?
The feature length documentary, "The Shamima Begum Story", will be on BBC2 at 9pm on February 7th.
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten by: Josh Baker and Joe KentProducers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam Slater and Gunni TynesMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinator: Janet StaplesSeries Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma RipponCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Guidance: This episode contains descriptions of extreme violence
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The man who smuggled Shamima Begum to Syria claims he was spying for Canada. What's the truth? And could she and her school friends have been stopped from reaching the Islamic State group?
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten by: Josh Baker and Joe KentProducers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentField producers: Hussam HammoudComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam Slater and Gunni TynesMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinator: Janet StaplesSeries Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma RipponCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
ARCHIVE:SKY News: New Footage 'Of British IS Schoolgirls' (March 2015)
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Following Shamima Begumâs route reveals a dangerous Islamic State group smuggling network, but thatâs not all. A local taxi firm isnât what it seems and a gangster threatens to make Josh âdisappear.â It all ends in an underground carpark with a stack of secret documents and a warning.
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten by: Josh Baker and Joe KentProducers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe KentField producers: Hussam Hammoud and Zeynep BilginsoyComposer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam Slater and Gunni TynesMix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinator: Janet StaplesSeries Editor: Jonathan AspinwallHead of Long Form Audio: Emma RipponCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
This episode contains strong language.
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Three London schoolgirls disappear, heading for a war zone. Four years later only one emerges from the ashes of ISIS. Nobody knows what really happened to her. Josh Baker meets Shamima Begum in Syria to begin unpicking her story.
Almost eight years earlier, he was filming in Shamimaâs local mosque when news broke that she and her friends had gone missing, it made global headlines. He was there when their families came asking for help, but it was all too late; they'd already made it into the hands of the Islamic State group.
But how did it all begin?
Reporter: Josh BakerWritten by: Josh Baker and Joe KentProducers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent Composer: Firas Abou FakherTheme music: Sam Slater Mix and sound design: Tom BrignellProduction coordinator: Janet Staples Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
ARCHIVE Good Morning Britain (ITV, September 2021) Sky News: John Sparks interviews Shamima Begum (February 2019)
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Investigating the story of Shamima Begum. At 15, she ran away from her London home with two school friends to join the terror group ISIS in war torn Syria. Now she wants to come back. Itâs a tale that has gripped the world, but there are different ways to tell it.
Josh Baker has been following the story since 2015 when Shamima Begum left for the Islamic State group. For Series 2 of Iâm Not a Monster he investigates what really happened.
ARCHIVE:
CNN: Three British Girls Run Away to Syria (2015)Sky News: Newspaper Review (13/02/2019)ITV: Good Morning Britain (24/11/2020)Fox News; The Ingraham Angle (20/02/2019)ITV: Good Morning Britain (15/09/2021)
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Seeking to separate fact from fiction, the multi award-winning series returns to investigate the divisive story of Shamima Begum. When three London school girls went missing in 2015, they generated global headlines and the media storm that ensued continues to this day. Back then, investigative journalist Josh Baker was filming at a mosque in the girlsâ neighbourhood as their families came to seek help; their daughters were on the way to Syria to join the Islamic State group. But it was too late, and they disappeared inside the so-called caliphate. For four years, their fate remained a mystery - with only occasional glimpses and sometimes conflicting reports of what they were doing with the terror group being made public. Only one of the girls emerged from the ashes of the so called caliphate - Shamima Begum.
The new series takes listeners inside Joshâs attempts to figure out what really happened, unearthing new information about one of the most talked about stories of our time. He travels from Bethnal Green in East London to the depths of what was ISIS controlled Syria as he challenges Shamima Begum and investigates if the story she tells is true.
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Since the series ended, so many of you have got in touch wanting to know more. With the help of criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw, Josh answers your questions.
Presenters: Josh Baker and Dr Julia Shaw (host of the Bad People podcast on BBC Sounds)Mixed by: Tom BrignellProducer: Joe KentProduction Co-ordinator: Janet StaplesEditor Emma Rippon
âIâm Not a Monsterâ is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Sounds.
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In Northern Iraq, Josh finds out how two people youâve been asking about are doing now.
In 2014, the Islamic State group killed thousands of members of the Yazidi religious community and kidnapped and enslaved many, many more. Ayham and Saud were both taken from their families and ended up in Syria where they were eventually bought by Sam and her husband Moussa.
Josh first met them just after theyâd escaped ISIS with Sam and then made it back to Iraq. Now he returns to hear how they are doing today and what they want for their futures.
This episode includes strong language and references to violence.
Reporter: Josh BakerProducers: Joe Kent and Max GreenEditor: Emma RipponSound engineer: Tom Brignell
âIâm Not a Monsterâ is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Sounds.
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What happened to the family Josh was staying with when the Islamic State group struck in 2016?
Iâm Not a Monster began after Josh was injured by an ISIS truck bomb in Mosul, Iraq. If it wasnât for an old contact reaching out to see how he was doing, he may never have heard about Sam and Matthew.
Now he returns to the Iraqi city and finds that while the fighting may be largely over, the people of Iraq are facing a different battle as a mental health crisis has taken hold.
This episode includes descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.
Reporter: Josh BakerProducers: Joe Kent and Max Green
âIâm Not a Monsterâ is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Sounds.
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Josh is back with news of what to expect next and with a reminder of what we heard in Iâm Not A Monster.
Reporter: Josh BakerProducers: Joe Kent and Max Green
âIâm Not a Monsterâ is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.
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